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you join her.”
    I snapped my head towards Glen, “How do you know who I
am?”
    He shook his head as if I was stupid, “Ava Fox, everyone
knows who you are. Your family makes sure everyone knows who they are.”
    He studied me when the panic hit my face. I had managed
to stay out of Mason’s radar for six weeks and now just because I had needed a
drink, he would be close to finding me. Stupid. Stupid.
    “You mustn’t tell them I have been here.”
    “Why?”
    “Because… you just can’t. Believe me if my ex-husband
finds out you let me get this drunk, he’ll crucify you.” I lied, trying
anything to make him hold onto my secrets.
    “Ava,” Steed probed, “you said ex -husband.”
    I nodded and swallowed back the rest of my drink. “Yes. I
did.”
    “Wow.” He blew out a breath and stared at his drink.
    “Mr Steed…”
    “Ava, call me Dane, please.”
    I shook my head at him furiously, “No, I can’t do that.”
    “Why? It’s just a name.”
    “No,” I told him seriously, the alcohol slurring my words
and making me sombre. “It isn’t just a name to me. It’s a nightmare, it’s a
curse.”
    His eyes widened on me. I knew he thought I was crazy but
he sighed heavily. “Fine, call me Steed then. I can’t be doing with the mister
part.”
    I nodded in confirmation, blinking as my head swayed
heavily with the movement. “Another?” Steed asked with a sly smirk.
    “Are you trying to get me on my back?” I asked as I
narrowed my eyes on him.
    “I once asked you for a fuck and if I remember rightly,
you told me the only person you ever fucked was your husband.” He leaned across
the bar until his mouth brushed over my ear. “Well now, forgive me if I’m
wrong, but now, right the fuck now, I’d say you’re available.”
    I shivered when he took hold of my chin between his
fingers and turned my face towards him, his piercing blue eyes delving inside
me. “And I lay claim, darlin’. You’re now mine.”
    “Steed…”
    He shook his head, his face drawing closer. “You need to
fuck, Ava. I can smell it on you. But I’m warning you, I don’t fuck nicely. I
fuck with pain and lots of it but I’m guessing that’s exactly how you liked to
be fucked.”
     
    ***
     
    His fists ripped at my hair as we fell through my front
door, the handle banging off the wall where Mason had once pinned me up and
fucked me hard. I grabbed at Steed harder, trying to force the memories away.
    His kiss was furious and spiteful, his dominant streak
taking from me what I was willing to give. His fingers dug into my cheeks as he
cupped my face and slanted my head so he could take more and more, his tongue
fighting angrily with mine, the muscle dictating and forceful.
    He pulled back and glared at me, his chest heaving as his
tongue ran over his lower lip, lapping at the blood I had brought forward with
the bite. I gasped when he yanked my head back. “You like it hard, darlin’?
Then let me oblige.”
    I whimpered when he dragged me up the stairs, not
violently but with just enough hold to make me pant and greedily need more from
him.
    I knew this was gonna rip me in two. I hadn’t been with
another in twenty years and Steed’s dominance and anger would help me cope with
this.
     
    He let go of me when we reached the bedroom. “Stand
still,” he ordered. I was struggling to breathe. My body was on fire, every
single tiny hair on my body begging for stimuli as my thighs started to
tremble.
    He circled me, his finger lightly perusing me along with
his eyes. He came to rest behind me, leaving me on high alert and ready for
begging. His arms slid around me until he was clutching the silk of my shirt in
his hands.
    I hissed when he yanked and ripped open my blouse,
buttons pinging across the room as he tugged the material off me.
    His gasp made me cringe as he traced each of my scars
with the tip of his finger. “Shush, keep still.”
    His bluntness made me obey, allowing him to silently
study each mutilation.